Responses to Jersey City PS #23

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Responses to PS#23, Jersey City from Jackie -- Thank you for your questions!

DREA AND 312 GR.5 JERSEY CITY 1. WHAT`S UP WITH THOSE IGUANAS? (DREA)

The news is that not much is happening just yet with the iguanas, but it should be soon: they will move down from the treetops and the females will search the shoreline for a good place to lay eggs. What do you think is a good place, and how do you think the iguanas know this?

2. DO YOU GET SCARED OF SOME OF THE ANIMALS AND INSECTS IN THE RAINFOREST? (MARYAM)

No, not usually. I am afraid of disturbing a beehive or stepping on a fer-de-lance, or bumping a branch with Paraponera ants or a nest of wasps. I have been stung by ants and wasps, that's all. Otherwise it's pretty cool out there.

3. HAS ANY ANIMAL EVER ATTACKED YOU IN THE RAINFOREST? (MARWA)A tamandua tried to climb up my pants leg one time (not an attack!), and a tame margay played roughly with my arm (just play!), but otherwise, except for injured insects, NO!

4. WHAT ANIMAL IS YOUR FAVORITE? (MOHAMMED) My favorite animals are squirrels. I don't know why, just love them. Next after that are the tamanduas and marmosa and brocket deer and ocelots and pumas and jaguarundis and tapirs and so on, not necessarily in that order.

5. HOW MANY ANIMALS AND INSECTS DID YOU SEE IN ALL? (DASHMEET)I really don't know: let me try to figure it out. I think we saw about 1100 mammals on census, and at least that many birds, and maybe 300 frogs and snakes and caiman and crocodiles and lizards, and probably ten times that many insects if we count all the different individual leafcutter ants, army ants, and flies, and so on! And maybe 500 ticks. How many is that??

6. WHAT IS THE LARGEST ANIMAL YOU'VE SEEN? (OSCAR) The largest mammals we saw this year were all deer, and the largest reptiles were crocodiles. In other years, if we saw a tapir, that would be the largest on land. The manatees are the largest in the water.

7. IS GATUN LAKE A FRESHWATER OR SALTWATER LAKE?(PETER)Gatun has fresh water: you might want to check where it is located and how the canal locks work to keep the sea water separate from the fresh water. There is a link on our main webpage.

8. HAVE YOU SEEN ANY TOUCANS? (RABIA) Yes, lots of toucans: I will try to set up some toucan video clips.

9. WHAT'S THE SMALLEST ANIMAL THAT YOU HAVE SEEN? (ARIEL)What do you mean by animal? If you mean any kind of animal, then insects were the smallest, like some tiny ants that invaded one of our cameras through a very small hole and built a nest inside and ruined the camera. If you mean mammals, then the bats of various sorts were the smallest.

10. WILL THE TAMANDUA EVER LET A HUMAN TOUCH IT OR WILL IT EVER BE SOMEWHAT TAME? (DREA) Sometimes male tamanduas have tried to touch me, but they get scared if I try to touch them. It's best to stand still and be quiet and let them come to you. They are not at all tame, but they are curious, and I think that some of them have never seen a human up close.